Led Zeppelin's classic rock song “Stairway to Heaven” is perhaps one of the most controversial songs of all time – it has long been alleged that a backmasked message is contained in "Stairway to Heaven." It occurs during the middle part of the song where the lyrics start as “If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now…”.

A backmasked message is a message beyond the perception of regular human awareness - i.e. a subliminal message – so in this instance when you play this verse backwards you get a weird message. Here is the stairway to heaven subliminal verse in full:

 

  • Oh here’s to my sweet Satan.
  • The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan.
  • He will give those with him 666.
  • There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.

 

The controversy all started when a Baptist preacher blasted the song on his radio show in 1982.

This led to lots of controversy and deep analysis by various people including the theory was later primarily advanced by Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly. William Yarroll, a self-identified neuroscientist, also supported the theory that the song contained messages when played in reverse.

Led Zep mostly ignored these criticisms and for years and years the only statement about the issue was from Swan Song Records: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards". The sound engineer Eddie Kramer supported this, calling the claims "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they spend studio time doing something so dumb?" Led Zep Writer Robert Plant got extremely frustrated with the accusations: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with best intentions, and as for reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music.

Here is the video, so decide for yourself. Visit our blog for more subliminal songs.

 

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